I just wanted to find out from everyone what the city run shelters do in your area with regards to spay/neutering.

The SPCA for example has a mandatory program that they perform the spay/neuter before the animal is adopted.

HOWEVER I can't say the city run shelters here do the same, funny how they are contributors to the very problem they are trying to avoid.

You can stroll into the Animal Shelter in Scarborough and as long as you have the $ it's basically no questions asked. Sure they have you complete a form and we all know 'everyone' is truthful right

The animals are not all vaccinated nor are they spay/neutered before they leave. All they get is dewormed basically! (which they can't even do that right because Honey was FULL of worms when I brought her home...)

How can this be?

It truly makes me wonder if it's not 'for profit' solely, who cares if they don't neuter/spay....they get the offspring to adopt out or get 'bought' up by laboratories right!

Any thoughts folks?

Luba

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Cats only have nine lives because they stole them from dogs!Teehee

Hi Luba.Well our S.P.C.A here in Hamilton is a great one.We adopted a kitten 3 weeks ago from there.He was fixed, had his first set of shots.Second tommorow.He was dewormed.It'a a very clean place.Volunteers also come in and walk the dogs and play with them.And the cats and kittens too.They let you handle the animals and let you go into a room to be with them.If you are thinking of adopting a dog,you can take them outside and walk them.You just have to leave your car keys or a licence with them.We go there to drop off old newspapers.They are all fixed before you take them home.Our little Casper is a sweetie.White ball of fluff with ice blue eyes.But we just figured out a week ago that he is deaf.This is going to be a challenge.I can't believe what goes on at that shelter where you are.It is so very wrong.I wonder if there is anything you can do.Honey should not have came out of there with wormsIt seems like they don't give a crap there.Maybe they can be reported somehow.Do the animals look like they are suffering in any way?Are the cages clean?Food in there?Please let me know ok.

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"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."

Yes the SPCA in Hamilton is great, I was just communicating with a worker there about a 7 Year old pointer....was trying to give her tips. Was obviously a hunters dog they didn't want anymore (grr makes me mad)!

Well I didn't tell the whole story and have been considering writing a letter to the mayors office about it and sending a copy to the local DOGS DOGS DOGS paper.

There are Three dog rooms, two of them were closed they said the dogs had kennel cough...Honey was in room #3.

The outdoor area that they let u take the dogs to is almost all gravel and fenced in, they give you a megshift lead, no collar and it's hard as hell to walk a dog who's excited to go outside since NONE of the staff take them out AND they dont' have a supervised or regular volunteer program.

At any rate the area was covered in feces, you could not walk w/o walkin in the excrement. So you can see the reasons for cross contamination here huh!

I spoke to the staff who were flippant about it and said whoever takes the dog out is responsible to clean up after it, and there are provided poop bags outside.

Well the poop bags were hidden behind a bush that nobody could see and even if the walkers didn't clean it up THEY should to prevent contamination.

How stupid! Also, they had Honey marked down as a Hound on her cage, when she's a pure English Pointer...even though I showed them they were wrong they didn't care....but I was concerned cause if her family was looking for her and called in to the shelter...they'd say they didn't have a pointer. So that was the last straw for me and I took her out of there...had to!!

Ok long winded blah blah blah

I haven't been up to the shelter since, had been really busy with Honey bunny but may stop by sometime in the next couple of weeks. Just to look in there, but I'm afraid I'll want to bring more home and I can't!!

Shame isn't it.

Luba

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Cats only have nine lives because they stole them from dogs!Teehee

Hi Luba.Oh my god.That place sounds realy disgusting.They have to be reported some how.Hey we were there lastweek and I saw a pointer there.It was a sweetie.But all the dogs there are so dorable.And there were 3 sweet puppies there.About 2 months old.My 16 year old daughter is thinking about volenteering.I saw a pic of Honey.And she is a honey.Well I hope something can be done about that shelter.It makes me sick to hear things like that.

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"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."

I thought all shelters had a mandatory s/n policy. It seems just stupid NOT to - just compounding the problem. Duh.

The Denver Dumb Friends League does pediatric s/n, so even if you get an 8 week old kitten or puppy, it's "fixed."

The high-kill shelter (Lansing MI) I got one of my dogs from don't do any surgeries on site, just euthanizing.
But they do have a rather effective, if cumbersome way around that. We had to fill out the paperwork for Daphne, then hike it over to my vet, where we prepaid for her spay. He signed a promissory note stating that the surgery would be done within a month, we took it BACK to the shelter, & got Daph 3 days before her kill date.

Luba & Mona, that shelter doesn't sound like it's very well run! Mona - if your daughter volunteers there, tell her she's got a BIG heart. That's not an easy thing to do...

Thank you Carina.She has a big heart when it comes to animals and helping them.

Luba.No I didn't get a chance to take him out.But one of the volenteers was taking him out so we got to pat him.What a sweetie.If you get a chance,go visit them.And yes his name is Neon.If you want,go to their site.A pic of him is on there.

hamiltonspca.com.

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"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."